Bullet Hole is the title of a 1988 artwork by British artist Mat Collishaw. Despite the title, the work is a reproduction of an ice pick wound to the head, appropriated from a pathology manual and blown up over an interlocking grid of fifteen separate framed images that make up one single work. It first went on show in the exhibition Freeze, organized by Damien Hirst.
The work has become synonymous with the perceived ethos of the Young British Artists art scene, in particular the reuse of imagery that is seemingly repulsive or shocking.
The photographs were described by Ian Jeffrey, in a catalogue essay for the Freeze exhibition as a "freeze-frame" and hence prompted the title of that exhibition. [1]
According to Collishaw the artwork did not sell and “rotted in a skip” outside the Freeze exhibition in 1988.
The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Goldsmiths, in the late 1980s, whereas some from the group had trained at Royal College of Art.
Tracey Karima Emin, CBE, RA is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, neon text and sewn appliqué. Once the "enfant terrible" of the Young British Artists in the 1980s, Tracey Emin is now a Royal Academician.
Michael Landy is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs). He is best known for the performance piece installation Break Down (2001), in which he destroyed all his possessions, and for the Art Bin project (2010) at the South London Gallery. On 29 May 2008, Landy was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the Damien Hirst-led Young British Artists, followed by shows purely of painting, led to Saatchi Gallery becoming a recognised authority in contemporary art globally. It has occupied different premises, first in North London, then the South Bank by the River Thames, and finally in Chelsea, Duke of York's HQ, its current location. In 2019 Saatchi Gallery became a registered charity and begun a new chapter in its history. Recent exhibitions include the major solo exhibition of the artist JR, JR: Chronicles, and London Grads Now in September 2019 lending the gallery spaces to graduates from leading fine art schools who experienced the cancellation of physical degree shows due to the pandemic.
Sarah Lucas is an English artist. She is part of the generation of Young British Artists who emerged during the 1990s. Her works frequently employ visual puns and bawdy humour by incorporating photography, collage and found objects.
Freeze is the title of an art exhibition that took place in July 1988 in an empty London Port Authority building at Surrey Docks in London Docklands. Its main organiser was Damien Hirst. It was significant in the subsequent development of the Young British Artists.
Matthew "Mat" Collishaw Hon. FRPS is an English artist based in London.
Site Gallery is an art gallery in Sheffield, England. It specialises in moving image, new media and performance based art.
Lisson Gallery is a contemporary art gallery with locations in London and New York, founded by Nicholas Logsdail in 1967. The gallery represents over 50 artists such as Art & Language, Ryan Gander, Carmen Herrera, Richard Long, John Latham, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Jonathan Monk, Julian Opie, Richard Wentworth, Anish Kapoor, Richard Deacon and Ai Weiwei.
Sensation was an exhibition of the collection of contemporary art owned by Charles Saatchi, including many works by Young British Artists, (YBAs), which first took place 18 September – 28 December 1997 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The exhibition later toured to the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. A proposed showing at the National Gallery of Australia was cancelled when the gallery's director decided the exhibition was "too close to the market."
Fiona Rae is a Hong Kong-born British artist. She is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who rose to prominence in the 1990s. Throughout her career, she has been known for having a portfolio of work that includes elements of energy, and complexity. Her work is known for aiming at expanding the modern traditions of painting.
Carl Freedman is the founder of Carl Freedman Gallery. He previously worked as a writer and a curator.
Abigail Lane is an English artist who works in photography, wax casting, printing and sound. Lane was one of the exhibitors in the 1988 Damien Hirst-led Freeze exhibition—a mixed show of art which was significant in the development of the later-to-be YBA scene of art.
Brilliant! was a group exhibition of contemporary art held at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA between 22 October 1995 and 7 January 1996. The exhibition then traveled to the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Texas - where it was on view between 17 February and 14 April 1996.
Exhibit A was an art exhibition in the galleries of the Serpentine Gallery, London, from May 7—June 7, 1992.
Modern Medicine was the title of a group exhibition of contemporary art on display in "Building One"—one of the buildings comprising the former Peek Frean biscuit factory—in Bermondsey, London, in 1990. The exhibition was organized or "curated" by Billee Sellman, Damien Hirst and Carl Freedman. The exhibition included the first showing of Damien Hirst's sculpture "One Thousand Years". It was one of several warehouse exhibitions from which the YBA art scene developed—along with Freeze and East Country Yard.
Shape Arts or Shape is a London-based arts charity, funded by Arts Council England, that provides opportunities for disabled individuals wanting to work in the arts and cultural sector. It trains participants and runs arts and development programmes across all of the creative arts: visual arts, music, dance, writing and acting.
Ben Moore is a British art curator, entrepreneur and artist. He is the founder and curator of Art Below, a contemporary art organisation that places art in public spaces and has had shows in England, Germany, Japan and the United States. He is also the founder and curator of Art Wars, an exhibition of designs based on the Imperial Stormtrooper helmets from Star Wars. In 2021, Moore was part of the Art Wars NFT project which received some publicity.
Nick Fudge is a British painter, sculptor, and digital artist.
The BFI Gallery was the BFI's contemporary art gallery dedicated to artists' moving image housed within BFI Southbank, the British Film Institute's flagship venue in London. The space was funded by the BFI with Arts Council England support and opened on 14 March 2007, to coincide with the reopening of the site. Its programme of new commissions, events and associated artists' film screenings was curated by Elisabetta Fabrizi, BFI Head of Exhibitions. The programme included exhibitions by Michael Snow, John Akomfrah, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pierre Bismuth, Jane & Louise Wilson, Peter Campus, Patrick Keiller, Phil Collins, Matt Collishaw, Yvonne Rainer, Julian Rosensfeld, Michel Gondry, Deimantas Narkevicious, Mark Lewis. Film programmes linked to the gallery exhibitions included a retrospective of the films of Sergei Paradjanov and of Michael Snow.